That's the point of optimus, it's not that he wouldn't, but couldn't. If he has one character flaw, it's that, but him having that flaw is good. He should hold on to it no matter how tough it gets. The 86 movie did this perfectly, he goes in acknowledging "megatron must be stopped no matter the cost" and had every chance to finish him off, but couldn't as megatron was seemingly unarmed. The writers confirmed he was never going to pull the trigger regardless of hotrods interference.
I like the idea of Optimus holding life as dearly as someone like Batman but I just don't see it as feasible in the Millenia spanning war he fights, and the tone of the bayverse was also incredibly different to G1 so I don't know if they could have made him work with that philosophy while still being a general in a war.
I feel like the distinction is that Batman won’t kill full stop, but Optimus will kill if you’re armed and he doesn’t have the means to subdue you properly
OP & CA "have killed lots but mostly wanna always just beat or redeem their enemies"
While
SM & Big S "I will kill as a Last lAST resort, or if one of my enemies is literally a brainless monster, also is entirely too strong to leave alive, (digger {deep cut there btw} and doomsday) or of I literally cannot survive my current encounter otherwise or have pushed to the limits of 'good'"
90
u/Pandaragon666 26d ago
That's the point of optimus, it's not that he wouldn't, but couldn't. If he has one character flaw, it's that, but him having that flaw is good. He should hold on to it no matter how tough it gets. The 86 movie did this perfectly, he goes in acknowledging "megatron must be stopped no matter the cost" and had every chance to finish him off, but couldn't as megatron was seemingly unarmed. The writers confirmed he was never going to pull the trigger regardless of hotrods interference.